John Vander Horst Jr.

John Vander Horst, Jr. CHARLESTON - John Vander Horst, Jr. made his ancestral homecoming to Charleston, S.C. in the mid 1990's. At the age of 69, he made his final homecoming on September 8, 2012. John moved to Charleston from Baltimore, where he was President of Wm. H. Cole and Sons, an old family wholesale hardware business. In Charleston John owned and operated the "Old Line Charleston" Historical Tours, which he had to close a few years before his death because of multiple health problems. During the time he was active in the historical tour business, he worked diligently to improve the tourist destination and appreciation of the upper King Street District. John was devoted to Charleston and its history, and to the Lord and to the Episcopal Church. John was a member of the class of '61 at the Choate School in Connecticut, and was a member of the 1965 class of the University of the South at Sewanee. John's quick wit and adroit social and dancing skills made him a favorite at any social gathering including St. Cecilia Ball. He was also a member of the Society of the Cincinnati representing Maj. John Vander Horst, 2nd Regiment, South Carolina Continental Line. He was a devout Christian and spent a year of studies at General Theological Seminary in New York. John belonged to St. Luke's and St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral. He did volunteer work in homeless shelters in Baltimore, MD and Charleston. The first John Vander Horst in America landed in Charleston in the fall of 1686. In the third generation, Arnoldus Vander Horst fought under Francis Marion, and as the mayor of Charleston received and entertained George Washington on his historic tour. Arnoldus went on to be Governor of South Carolina. John's great-grandmother Adele Allston married Arnoldus's grandson, Arnoldus Vander Horst, during the Civil War in her father's (Robert F. W. Allston's) home, now known as the Nathaniel Russell House. Robert Allston was the Governor of South Carolina immediately preceding the Civil War. The Vander Horst family island of Kiawah was sold in the late 1940's. John was preceded in death by his father, John Vander Horst, the 7th Episcopal Bishop of Tennessee, as well as by his mother, Helen Lawrence of Marietta, Georgia, and a beloved sister, Ella Vander Horst Tittler. He is survived by a sister, Helen Vander Horst Keese, of Knoxville, Tennessee and a brother, Allston Vander Horst, of Centerville, Tennessee, a former wife, Kathleen P. Vander Horst, of a marriage of over twenty years, many nephews, nieces, cousins, and a multitude of friends. There will be a memorial service for John held on October 20, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church Ashwood, Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee, where both of his parents are buried. (Most of the Episcopal Bishops of Tennessee are buried there.) Donations may be made in memory of John to Crisis Ministries, 573 Meeting St., Charleston, SC 29413-0038 to support its homeless programs or to St. John's Episcopal Church Ashwood, 1116 West Seventh Street, PMB 75, Columbia, TN 38401. Visit our guestbook at www.legacy.com/obituaries/ charleston